Man neglects wife, 5 kids

Audrey Kativhu

A HARARE man stands accused of abandoning his wife, and five children, to stay with his girlfriend.

Blessing Zanza has also been accused of verbally and physically abusing his wife, Meibha Nyamufukudza, who is struggling to make ends meet.

This matter came to light at the Harare Civil Court before magistrate Sharon Mashavire where Meibha successfully applied for a protection order.

“Blessing moved out to stay with his girlfriend and when he comes back home, he insults and assaults me.

“He has the tendency of taking my money from my poultry project, which is my only source of income, for myself and our kids.

“He insults me when I challenge him to take good care of our children, and when I ask him about the money, he assaults me.

“He left me with five children – I was one-month pregnant with our last born child at that time.

“He is pretending that he uses a crutch – which has been staying under the bed for the past six years, as he wants to pretend that he is a victim of abuse . He accuses me of being a prostitute and he breaks my phone.”

In his defence, Blessing said: “She is in the habit of always beating me and when I go to the police, they laugh at me saying I am not man enough.

“We have been married for 19 years now and we always fight and I agree that we sometimes exchange harsh words.

“I don’t owe her money and she knows the people she gave her chickens and they are the ones who should pay her.”

Magistrate Mashavire granted the protection order in Meibha’s favour.